April 9, 2024
From your landing pages to your blog posts, keywords are the foundation to an SEO strategy and the core building blocks of Google’s search mechanism. This makes keyword research a crucial component of your website’s success.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the significance of keywords in organic search, the importance of keyword research and its pivotal role in any successful SEO strategy. We’ll also include our top tips to help you choose the right keywords and elevate your online presence.
Whether you’re new to the concept of keywords or a seasoned SEO expert, here is our ultimate guide to keyword research.
Keywords are the words or phrases entered into a search engine in order to find information, products or services. They are the key to resolving queries, whether you want to learn more about a particular topic, buy goods or make a reservation.
In the context of SEO, keywords help to determine which websites or pages are displayed in search engine results pages (SERPs). By allowing keywords to inform your content, you can make your website more findable, attract organic traffic and grow your audience.
It may help to think of keywords as invitations. When used correctly, they can increase the visibility of your website, helping users to find your products or services and inviting them in. Essentially, keywords are like your window display: they give context to Google and draw in your demographic.
When it comes to using keywords, there are two main types: short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords. As the names suggest, short-term keywords are shorter in length (one to three words) while long-tail keywords are longer (three or more words).
Also known as head terms, focus, seed and main keywords, short-tail keywords tend to represent broader topics. This means they have high search volumes and attract a large number of users. For this reason, they are often the most competitive.
In contrast, long-tail keywords are more specific, detailed and targeted. As such, they are typically less competitive, have lower search volumes and are easier to rank for. Additionally, long-tail keywords tend to indicate intent. This means they are more likely to convert into sales or actions.
Take ‘coffee’ and ‘organic fairtrade coffee beans’ or ‘running shoes’ and ‘black running shoes for men’. The terms ‘coffee’ and ‘running shoes’ are short-tail while ‘organic fairtrade coffee beans’ and ‘black running shoes for men’ are long-tail.
A comprehensive SEO strategy utilises both types of keywords – but more on that later.
Keyword research is the process of identifying and analysing the words, terms and phrases used when searching for information, products or services online. It reveals the words your users type when visiting a search engine or the questions they pose when uttering ‘Hey Siri’ or ‘OK Google’.
The process of keyword research involves various steps, from identifying focus (or seed) keywords to analysing keyword metrics, exploring related terms and discovering user intent. At the end of this process, you will have outlined a keyword strategy complete with a targeted list of keywords that you want your website to rank for.
Keyword research is important as it enables you to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. By understanding the search behaviour of your users, you can optimise your website by creating content that aligns with their language, needs and intentions.
Remember, a search engine is a system that has been designed to find and retrieve information. When a user enters a search query, the search engine ranks results in the order that best answers that query.
These little words, terms and phrases are the key to unlocking valuable opportunities; they provide the insights that could help you reach and connect with your audience. By utilising the right keywords, you could improve the visibility of your website, drive more targeted traffic and increase the likelihood of conversions.
In short, keyword research ensures you’re speaking the same language as your audience.
Conducting keyword research is the first half of the process, the second involves building an effective keyword strategy. Also known as a content strategy, a keyword strategy takes all of the information you gleaned from your research and transfers it to an actionable, data-driven content plan.
Essentially, your keyword strategy outlines which search engine queries you want to target, the order in which you will target them and the types of content you will create. This is where you spot trends, group together keywords and create an interlinking content plan.
Before heading into a keyword research project, it’s important to have a plan on how you’re going to tackle it that relates to your overall SEO objectives. There are likely to be 10s of 1000s of queries within any topic you can think of and so having a plan will help you avoid trawling through all of these for days.
For example, if one of my SEO objectives is to increase traffic and sales for Women’s Shoes, I’m going to first focus on the highest volume related queries, organise these into categories (style, colour, size), then research within those subcategory topics step by step. Ideally prioritising groups most lucrative or of interest to the business. Then I’ll focus on search terms that have at least 1000 searches per month. I may come back and review any with less than 1000 searches for any that are of particular value or relevant to me. If I have time I’ll then also look at questions and informational queries. By compartmentalising the task you won’t miss anything and can ensure you’re producing a list that’s most important to you and can be added to later if required.
Now that we’ve covered some of the key questions, it’s almost time to reveal our 12-step plan for keyword research. But first, here are some of the essential considerations and concepts required for carrying out effective keyword research.
Monthly Search Volume (or MSV), refers to the average number of times a keyword or key phrase is searched for during a one month period. It’s a vital metric for SEO, as it highlights the popularity – and thus the potential traffic – of each keyword.
A high search volume indicates that there is a significant interest in content related to that particular keyword. However, while high search volume terms can be tempting, these keywords also come with increased difficulty and competition.
Note: Search volume metrics should be taken with a pinch of salt, most come from 3rd party software and give a good ballpark idea of how popular terms are.
Keyword difficulty and competition refer to the challenge associated with ranking for a specific keyword. These are usually metrics provided by third party software outlets and indicate how many people are searching for these terms as well as how many other websites are optimising their content for the same keyword.
As you would expect, high competition keywords are more difficult to rank for. Conversely, low competition keywords have fewer competitors and may offer more opportunities. Because of this, keyword difficulty and competition are important metrics in any SEO strategy. They can help you to get the best return on investment, find quick wins – also known as low-hanging fruit – and ultimately, assist in prioritising your keywords. In short, they can be used to determine the viability of ranking for a particular keyword.
Keyword trends and seasonality refer to patterns and fluctuations in search behaviour over time. Keyword trends indicate whether the interest in a specific keyword is increasing, decreasing or remaining stable; keyword seasonality denotes predictable patterns in search volumes that occur at specific times of the year, such as Christmas.
Certain keywords may go in and out of style (trends) while others experience spikes or declines based on demand (seasonality). In both cases, understanding these shifts and fluctuations in search behaviour is crucial: it allows you to identify trends and adjust your content strategy to capitalise on seasonal opportunities.
In order to select the right keywords, you need to understand your demographic. This includes their preferences, interests, needs, language and of course, how they search for information online. This knowledge enables you to choose keywords that both resonate with and target your audience.
Knowing your demographic is vital for creating connections. Relevant keywords have the power to improve visibility, attract traffic and speak to your demographic. In turn, this can boost the effectiveness of your SEO and improve your conversion rates.
Also known as user intent, search intent refers to the reason or meaning behind a user’s search query. It’s the goal or intention a user has when they type queries or ask questions via voice search. By viewing keywords through the lens of intent, you can better understand the pain points, needs and wants of your audience.
If we revisit our ‘coffee’ example, what does your user want when they type ‘coffee’ into the SERPs? Are they looking for a local coffee shop? To buy products such as beans and coffee pods? Or information about growing coffee? This is where intent comes in.
There are four ways to categorise keyword intent and they go from the top to the bottom of the marketing funnel:
Understanding which keywords correspond to each category is essential. Firstly, it can identify the appropriate types of content for the keyword(s), helping you to capture users at the right stage. Secondly, Google considers relevance when ranking results, so the more relevant your page, the better it could rank.
At this stage, you should have a solid grasp on the importance of keywords as well as the fundamental elements of an effective keyword strategy. Now you’re equipped with this knowledge, you’re ready to discover how to conduct keyword research.
Below you’ll find our complete guide to keyword research. This includes the best keyword research tools, our tips for writing optimised content as well as how to evaluate and improve your strategy.
We’ve also included a link to our free keyword strategy template – see ‘Design Your Keyword Strategy’.
The first step of keyword research involves defining your aims, goals and objectives. These aims could relate to your target audience, improving your organic search traffic or boosting your existing keyword rankings.
For example, are you aiming to capitalise on existing rankings by finding low-hanging fruit and optimising your content? Or perhaps you’re looking to create new content and expand into a new market or niche?
No matter your goals, make sure each one is measurable and realistic. By setting objectives within a specified period of time, you can design a roadmap that tracks your progress and provides valuable feedback. E.g. increasing organic search by x amount within x number of months.
To outline your new keyword strategy, you first need to know your current rankings and positions within the SERPs. This will identify opportunities for improvement, allowing you to measure your current SEO efforts.
When analysing your keyword rankings, ask yourself the following questions:
Can you spot any cannibalisation issues? I.e. Are multiple pages competing for the same keywords within the SERPs?
By answering these questions, you can spot fundamental flaws and a potential wealth of keyword opportunities. For example, if we look at cannibalisation, this often occurs when websites feature similar pieces of content (such as blog posts) or lack optimised subcategory landing pages.
By finding this information, you can implement cannibalisation control measures. This could include redirects, canonical tags, noindex tags, keyword optimisation and new content.
To assess your current rankings, export keyword data using your preferred SEO tool. This could include Google Search Console, Ahrefs or Semrush – you’ll find info in the ‘Best Tools for Keyword Research (Free and Paid)’ section.
Next, organise this data into columns with relevant headings such as URL, keyword, clicks, position, etc. Then perform a VLOOKUP to compare the performance metrics of duplicate keywords. When you’ve identified the position and ranking page, you can then plan whether to optimise, consolidate or create.
Here we’ve created a Google Sheets template for you to use when conducting your own keyword research: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WfVBGJiR9nbBXlqYFdT-YGgQ3X0qNemGCX4tSFBKWWs/edit#gid=187285344
The next step is to brainstorm and create a list of keywords – we recommend using a spreadsheet like Excel or Google Sheets. Considering your aims and your current rankings, think about your demographic and the kinds of search terms they are likely to use.
When brainstorming, it can be helpful to start with the following questions:
We recommend starting out with a seed or focus keyword, e.g. ‘running shoes’. From here, you can build out topics and group keyword clusters into themes. Consider variants, synonyms and related queries/questions, as well as singular and plural keywords.
Variants could include keywords such as ‘trail running shoes’ or ‘running trainers’; questions may include ‘how to choose running shoes’ or ‘what are the best running shoes for flat feet’.
Now that you’ve got your list of keywords, it’s time to dig deeper and do some research. One of the best places to start? The SERPs. In particular, Google autocomplete is an excellent tool to expand your brainstorming sessions.
Google autocomplete can offer an effective means of finding long-tail keywords, branching out from seed keywords and building out topics. Simply start typing your keyword and Google autocomplete will suggest real search suggestions. Additionally, you can also utilise Google’s ‘related searches’ function.
Analysing competitor keywords is an excellent way to find out which keywords your competition is targeting. By studying what they rank for, you can ensure that your website stays competitive, gain ideas and pinpoint any missed opportunities.
This is particularly important for highly competitive niches where the SERPs are dominated by big brands; this level of competition can make it difficult to rank for those short-tail head terms. In these instances, spotting keyword gaps could be the key to your success.
The answer could lie in keyword variants: relevant keywords that don’t contain the main target phrase. For example, ‘Apple’ versus ‘iPhone’, ‘vegan’ versus ‘plant based’ or ‘coffee pod’ versus ‘coffee capsule’.
Tip: A good way to find keyword opportunities is to use the content gap analysis features offered by Semrush and Ahrefs. Using these you can enter two or more domains, and it will highlight which keywords one website ranks for that the other doesn’t.
At this stage, it’s time to take a closer look at intent and relevancy. Assess each keyword or phrase on your list and attempt to ascertain what need, want or problem your users are attempting to solve via these searches.
Are they trying to learn about a topic (informational)? Do they want to access a particular website (navigational)? Are they in the process of researching and reviewing (commercial)? Or are they ready to buy (transactional)?
Some of these may be obvious. For example, a term relating to price will fall into the transactional category. For others, the SERPs will provide clues. For example, certain terms may return lots of how-to guides, instructions or recipes; others may produce local results or a shopping carousel.
This step is essential for assigning keywords to the right kind of content, ensuring relevancy and ultimately, getting the best return on your SEO strategy.
Is your site already active? If so, your current site queries can offer further insight. By using Google Search Console, you can check which queries your website is already ranking for. Essentially, it reveals how Google perceives your website.
This stage can be illuminating, highlighting how relevant Google thinks your website is for a range of queries. For example, is your website gaining lots of impressions for a certain query but very few clicks? This could represent an ideal opportunity for content optimisation around this term, as the page is sufficiently relevant enough for Google to rank it, it gains a lot of interest but is not in a high enough position to drive traffic.
GSC also offers an avg ranking metric. Queries with an average position below 10 offer potentially significant keyword targeting opportunities to increase traffic to your website as they require less effort to push into traffic driving positions than others lower down the pecking order.
Be careful when deciding which terms to go after and double check the search intent of keywords you’re interested in. Is the content you are offering users actually relevant to what they had in mind? What sort of content ranks in the top positions for these queries? Are you trying to push a square shape in a round hole?
Following your manual keyword research, you can use keyword tools to provide additional opportunities. These tools are an excellent way to discover further topics, clusters and related keywords. They also provide data on vital metrics such as keyword difficulty, monthly search volume and trends/seasonality.
There are a whole host of keyword research tools available, including free-to-use and paid subscription services. To get you started, here are some of the best keyword research tools for SEO.
Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword research tool provided by Google Ads. Although it was primarily designed to assist advertisers in planning their campaigns, it’s also a useful and powerful tool for SEO keyword research.
For keyword research purposes, Google Keyword Planner is best used for keyword discovery, assessing search volume and identifying competitive keyword opportunities.
You can input up to 10 seed keywords at a time to generate keyword suggestions, search volume data and competition levels. You can also conduct competitor analysis by inputting URLs and discovering their target keywords.
Note: Keyword Planner is unfortunately no longer available to default ad campaigns, This means you have to have active running campaigns (paid for with money) in order to access it.
Another free keyword research tool, Google Trends allows you to explore the popularity of search terms over time. Using real search queries, you can discover search trends and explore geographic and demographic data.
Trends is particularly useful for identifying trending topics, seasonal trends and regional variations in search interest. It’s ideal for expanding into subtopics and uncovering growing trends within a local region.
AnswerThePublic is a freemium keyword research tool offering free and paid options. Both versions utilise data from real search queries from Google and Bing. Results are organised into visual question-based queries, providing a mindmap of interlinking and relevant ideas.
AnswerThePublic is best used for uncovering long-tail keyword opportunities, identifying questions and concerns related to your topic. It’s a useful tool for generating content ideas that address user queries.
ChatGPT is an AI-driven chatbot that has been designed to generate human-like text and interactions. Although it’s not a dedicated research tool, it can facilitate keyword research by generating keyword ideas, answering questions and offering insights on a variety of topics. In fact it’s a great tool for gaining keyword ideas, although it can’t give you keyword metrics like search volume.
Like AnswerThePublic, ChatGPT is available in free and paid plans. By using prompts, ChatGPT can help to speed up the keyword research process. For example, you can ask it for relevant topics, semantically related keywords and associated long-tail keywords.
Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool suite with an extensive database of backlinks, keywords and ranking data. The features of this paid tool include Keyword Explorer, which provides a range of metrics and a wealth of data.
Keyword Explorer can be used to determine keyword difficulty, with a function that calculates the difficulty of achieving a top 10 rank for a given keyword. Additionally, Ahrefs can also be used to conduct content gap analysis, competitor keyword research and backlink analysis.
Semrush is another paid SEO tool that offers a wide range of features for keyword research, competitor analysis and audits. This includes the Keyword Magic Tool which provides keyword suggestions and related keywords as well as metrics such as search volume and difficulty.
Semrush also offers position tracking, domain analysis and backlink analysis. Outside of SEO, Semrush tools and reports can be utilised in all aspects of digital marketing from PPC to PR.
Note: Although some of the free options listed previously offer fantastic insights, if you can afford it, a subscription to either Ahrefs or Semrush is going to be the quickest and most effective way for you to conduct keyword research. They really aren’t cheap though at around $100 per month. Use the trial periods to get a feel for them. In our experience Ahrefs is more user friendly but relies heavily on credits so you can sometimes run out in the middle of a project, so on this basis, Semrush would be our recommendation.
KeywordInsights.ai is another great all in one keyword research, content planning and optimisation tool we’ve recently discovered. It uses AI to deftly organise and visually present keyword projects potentially saving you a lot of time. This isn’t an ad, it just comes with our recommendation.
The next step of the process is to design your keyword strategy (or content plan). With the data you have collected, you should have a spreadsheet filled with keywords, metrics such as keyword volume and information about intent. The data compiled here will inform your strategy.
When creating your data-led keyword strategy, there are a range of variables and questions to consider:
By answering these questions, you can prioritise your keywords and determine the order of your content production. Start by finding your low-hanging fruit (your quick wins) and the areas that are most important to your business. For example, this could mean optimising existing content and creating new content for long-tail keywords.
In addition to considering these questions, your keyword strategy should have a cohesive structure. It should follow a vision that not only helps you meet your objectives, but also enhances the user experience. To do this, group topics together in a way that captures your demographic at all stages of their journey.
For example, if we revisit ‘running shoes’, your research will have revealed additional keywords that branch off from your seed term. This may include terms such as ‘running shoes for men’, ‘black running shoes’, ‘trail running shoes’ and ‘best running shoes for winter’.
With these key phrases, you can design a top-down content strategy that incorporates your head term and related long-tail keywords. Here is a quick example:
Main Pillar Page e.g. “how to start running”
Supporting Content 1- “how to stretch before running” “pre run stretches” “post run stretches”.
Supporting Content 2- “best trainers for running”
OR
Main Category page > Subcategory page > product page
Running Shoes > Mens Running Shoes > Mens Size 9 Adidas [Model]
With your keyword strategy and content plan in place, it’s time to start writing your SEO content. This will range from pillar pages, overarching landing pages and subcategories to supporting authoritative articles, guides and blog posts – you will have determined each type of content during the previous step.
When writing your optimised content, it’s important to prioritise your audience over Google. Although this may seem counterintuitive, the most effective content always appeals to audiences over search engines. Write to and for your users with a plethora of readable, high-quality valuable, useful and relevant content.
Of course, you still need to appease the great Google algorithm, so keywords – and their placement – is important. However, the best performing content is relevant, authoritative and original.
Optimised content is the bread and butter of any website, so it’s important to get it right. Whether you’re writing landing page content, product copy or blog posts, here are our top 12 tips for writing SEO content:
With an ever-changing algorithm and changes in user behaviour, your SEO work is never complete. As a result, continually evaluating, monitoring and improving your keyword strategy is crucial. Only by tracking your results can you ensure that your efforts are maximising your visibility, attracting relevant traffic and achieving your goals.
After your content has been crawled by Google, you can begin assessing its performance. There are various ways to do this. The easiest is to simply Google your optimised terms. You can also use Google Search Console to see what queries you’re ranking for or monitor via keyword tracking tools.
No matter which method you use, tracking your results is the best way to ensure your SEO efforts are effective. It allows you to assess your strengths and weaknesses, pivot your strategy and get the best return on investment.
The last phase of any ongoing keyword strategy is to regularly review and update your content. While new content is an excellent way to showcase your authority and grow your reach, refreshing old content can provide excellent results and deliver quick wins.
Refreshing your content is essential for staying competitive. After all, SEO is not static. A lot can change over the course of a year, from a shift in audience searches and behaviours to new emerging trends and algorithm updates. Because of this, it’s crucial to periodically revisit your keyword research and your content.
Refreshing ensures that your content remains relevant and engaging. It’s an opportunity to update outdated information, optimise for additional keywords and further improve your rankings. In short, refreshing can help you maintain audience interests while supporting your SEO goals.
To summarise, here are your key takeaways for effective keyword research and SERP-winning content:
We appreciate this guide is packed with information and you may have questions about your current keyword research, strategy and content plan. Whether you want to learn more about keyword research or finesse your approach to SEO, we’re here to help.
Here at Another Concept, our experts have decades of experience in SEO, producing bespoke organic search strategies that deliver results. We know it’s about more than the keywords you select; it’s how you use them, how you leverage the power of words and how you connect with your audience.
If your current SEO strategy is failing to yield results, or you would like more tailored advice, then get in touch with our team today. We’d love to help you reach your users, amplify your presence in the SERPs and exceed your goals.
